Graduation At Last

This has been quite a weekend! I believe it had everything in it you can cram into a two-day period! It started off with a long drive to Clayton, GA. Oh Lord, don't let me be late and not graduate!!! I made it finally and reported in. I passed the gear inspection and the knot-tying tests just fine. Sandy had told me he was going to work something out so I could try rappelling again, and I looked up to find him smiling at me. "Do you want to do this? The Captain has given us 30 minutes - just us and no pressure." I grabbed my helmet, gloves, and harness and followed him to the base of the tower - which looked a lot more substantial than the previous one! The good news was that you climbed ladders on the INSIDE of this one! There were several Boy Scouts and a couple of girls who were Venturers on the tower already. I found myself climbing the ladders after Sandy and suddenly was peeking out the hatch on top. Oh Lord, if Mama knew, she'd shoot me for sure! Smith instructed me to climb out on the platform, and he hooked me to the safety line. I watched a young girl go down the tower for the first time, and she was scared to death. I WILL NOT CHICKEN OUT THIS TIME!!! After a little last-minute instruction, I hooked on to the rope and leaned back off the tower. Sandy was grinning at me as I made the first step off. All the way down I looked right at my feet and the tower. I didn't scream and didn't screw up!!! I'm happy to say I made it - and one of the scoutmasters got it all in photos!!!

When I got back to camp the Captain and the Lieutenant had both learned that I made it, and both said they were proud of me. I told several of the guys, and they were happy about it too - which made me feel pretty good. We settled in for some of our last instruction before the final exercise.

We were split into teams for the exercise. The scenario was that a plane had crashed on the mountain, and the co-pilot bailed before impact. We had to locate both the victims and the crash site, hopefully before nightfall which was about 2 hours away. The first teams went out and our team stayed behind to practice with some of the extraction equipment. We strapped a good-size soldier into something called a SKED, which is like a roll-up litter. It has lots of straps and buckles, and is pretty confusing. We had just finished when the second team radioed back that they were joining up with the first team, who had located the crash site. They actually had real plane wreckage that they had placed one of the rescue dummies in! Since they were tied up with that, they sent our team to search for the co-pilot. It was getting cold and was nearly dark by the time we set out up the mountain. The terrain was rough and rocky, and we just kept going up and up and up. We finally located the victim high on the ridge on a ledge about 8 feet wide. (Just a note, this is the same manequin my team has had to rescue every time. He needs to be more careful, as we are getting a little tired of hauling his heavy behind out of the woods!) We radioed vitals down and requested extraction equipment - and were told to sit tight. Well, we were there for quite a while. Freedom Fred, the victim, didn't add much to the conversation, but that didn't stop the rest of us! We lay back against our packs, wrapped in emergency blankets, and laughed for hours until the other team arrived. We continued to monitor Fred and radioed his condition back to the TOC every 30 minutes. Finally it was decided that the other female soldier and I would share a tent with Fred, while the men slept under the stars. Into the tent went Fred, strapped in his Stokes litter, and the two of us.

We got up in the dark, broke camp, and prepared to get Fred down the mountain. We stood and joked until the sun came over the ridge - and it was beautiful! It was slow going back down the rocky trail, but we finally arrived in the main camp. I had two minor injuries to treat when we arrived, but everything went very smooth. Finally we formed up and were individually presented with our certificates and congratulated by the instructors. It was a great feeling, and I sure am going to miss the comraderie I experienced playing in the woods and being just "one of the guys."
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Everyone in the family took off in a different direction this weekend. Barry graduated from Woodbadge at Bert Adams Scout Reservation. Aaron sang in the Spivey Hall Treble Honor Choir at Clayton State University. Daniel sang in the Olde Town Conyers Fall Festival. Even though we missed each other's shining moment, we were all proud of what the others had done. Thank the Good Lord for family who step up when needed to make it all come together. Tutter & Uncle Bob made sure Aaron got to Spivey Hall early in the morning for the all-day rehearsal. Granny & Papa made sure Daniel got to the Pavilion in Olde Town and watched him sing. Mama picked up Daniel, and they went to hear Aaron's performance. Then she kept the boys until I got home. I am very grateful for everyone who made the whole thing work out!

Here's To 15 Great Years!

Well, 15 years ago Barry and I embarked on this little adventure of ours - and what a ride it has been! We celebrated our anniversary this week with a dream trip to Florida with the boys. (It sure is nice of the school system to have their fall break the week of our anniversary!)

Ever since we first heard of Discovery Cove we have wanted to go there, so we splurged on it this week. We spent time at the Downtown Disney marketplace and had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We spent a day at Sea World prior to the main event of the trip. Finally, Wednesday came, and we arrived early in a lush tropical paradise right in the middle of Florida. We checked in, got our IDs, and scheduled our time to swim with the dolphins. We made our way through the breakfast buffet, which was really good and plentiful, and wandered off to get wetsuits. The boys were so cute in theirs! We got masks and snorkels and headed for the lagoon. We took some photos and waded around for a little bit, as it was almost time for our dolphin encounter.

The water in the dolphin lagoon was only 70 degrees, which was chilly even in a wetsuit! The boys were practically vibrating with excitement as we met Nate, one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever had the pleasure to meet. One at a time we got to pet him, feed him, and even kiss him! The trainer swam with us out to deep water, where Nate came along side us, and allowed us to hold his fin and get towed around back to shallow water. What a feeling!!! It was an incredible half-hour that ended much too soon. Thankfully their photographers captured the whole thing in pictures and video - which are absolutely priceless!

After that magical time with the dolphins, we decided to try snorkeling in the main lagoon. It took me a minute to get used to breathing underwater! I am also not used to my feet floating, which they did with the swim shoes on, so I kept feeling like I was going to flip forward. Barry and the boys got the hang of it immediately! Each of us had a disposable underwater camera on our wrist, and had a wonderful time snapping photos of the incredible fish! Barry came face to face with baracuda inside the shipwreck - which surprised him until he bumped the glass that separated him from all those teeth! I was swimming happily along and crested the reef to find myself swimming with stingrays that were nearly the size of a Volkswagon! (Did you know you can scream through a snorkel?) Down below us on the bottom were some nine foot sharks as well. It was absolutely incredible! There was a smaller pool filled with smaller rays, and we enjoyed letting them swim between our feet. Lunch was served in the grill, and it was delicious! You could have all you wanted of any item. I guess you could eat all day if that floated your boat! We enjoyed the meal, and went down to the aviary. We got to feed and hold so many beautiful species of birds including cuckoos! We spent a good while in there playing with our new feathered friends. Then the lazy river was calling our name. We grabbed a couple of foam noodles as they floated by in the warm water, and were swept away. It was fun to watch everybody floating happily along with their faces in the water! We went over big urns and cannons, through caverns and waterfalls, as we wound our way around the property. We ended they day watching the dolphins playing in their lagoon while we waited for the crowds at the showers to thin down. Now there is the thing about Discovery Cove..It may have been expensive, but they spared no expense on their guests. The showers were clean and had expensive shampoos and conditioners in them. There were fluffy warm towels, hairdryers, lotions, mouthwashes - you could live there!!! Reluctantly, as the sun set, we strolled up the path through the gardens and back to the car.

Bright and early we went back to Sea World. I got to do something I had always wanted to do . . . watch the divers bring up oysters. I picked one and the boys picked one. I ended up with two beautiful cream pearls that were nearly identical, which Barry had set in earrings for me. We did the things we missed on the first day, and even took in the luau that evening. They recognized all the anniversary couples, and we, believe it or not, were the ones married the longest! We were seated right at the stage, which was great when Daniel ended up going up to do the hula! The boys loved the banana bread, so our server brought them a whole plate full! It was a great ending to a great day!

The week ended way too soon, but what a wonderful anniversary it was!